Barbados - Land of Rum and Turtle Fear

I'm in Barbados. Disclaimer: I'm in Barbados on a press trip sponsored by Tommy Bahama Rum, which is made here. I've been here since late afternoon yesterday. It would have been earlier, but JetBlue planed and deplaned and replaned us due to "high winds," so even though I left my house pre 6am, we didn't take off until 11. I don't mean to complain, only to note that it wasn't an idyllic journey. Fortunately, as one of my fellow journalists noted, once you get here, how you got here instantly becomes a distant memory. Travel's funny like that.

One thing that did stick with me was the pineapple-scented lady next to me on the flight. During our descent, she told me Barbados was "home." I said "Did you enjoy your stay in New York?" and she said "I've lived in New York for 30 years." Kindly, she forgave my naive faux pas and gave me a bit of advice. We were discussing the delay and I said I was only sad I might not have time to get in the ocean before sundown. She told me "Oh, no, you can't go in the ocean today." I laughed. She looked at me funny and went on to explain that because I'm coming from a cooler climate, getting in the ocean right away would be a bad idea. "I knew an Englishman. He was so excited to get in the water. We got off the plane and at 3pm, he got in, and by 7? He was dead." I laughed again, thinking he must have just been tired. "No, he had a heart attack."

So, I was left to ponder that in the very long customs line and as I waited for my fellow journalists to arrive.

Once I got settled and ran around the grounds taking pictures (like the above, at the beautiful Crane Hotel's beach), there wasn't time to get in the ocean (obviously, because here I am, alive, writing this). We had an amazing seaside dinner at Tapas, which is a 7-month old Italian place. We sat literally 10 feet from the crashing ocean waves. It was fabulous. Then we listened to some live music at the hotel and drank our first corn n' oils. Then, off to sleep.

Today was action-packed. We had breakfast with an ocean view at the hotel, then headed off to Four Square Distillery. I'll have stories about that coming up. Next, we headed to Sunbury House, a delightful historical establishment with lovely people for lunch. It's very affordable, and a great stop for families and groups.


After that, we headed to our sunset catamaran cruise.


We didn't have our suits with us, but after cruising awhile, we arrived at a spot where we were encouraged, heavily, to snorkel. The worst part of the dilemma, of course, was that we all really wanted to. What were we to do? Well, being the action-loving journalists we are (and the rum didn't hurt), we all got in anyway, in various states of disrepair. Personally, I went in fully-clothed.

Our hosts were feeding this one sea turtle who was totally into it and hung around. Some of the journalists in the water were scared of him. I was all like, "whatever, the sea turtle doesn't care about us, he's not dangerous." I love turtles. I started following the beautiful, graceful, awe-inspiring turtle a little -- he led me to a giant stingray on the sea floor and even two blowfish (I tried to discreetly swim away when I saw them). Then, the turtle came back toward the boat with me, as he wanted more snacks (understandable). We swam around some more, and all of a sudden, the turtle turned around and locked eyes with me. He gazed directly into the depths of my snorkel mask and started swimming at me. 

As you might expect, I screamed and bolted for the boat. It's really hard to explain how you just swam faster than sound with no flippers. "The turtle looked at me!" is a pretty lame reason, so I kept sort of quiet about it. 


To be fair, he was probably trying to lead me into harm's way in the first place with that stingray and those blowfish. He was a good-looking turtle, but I think he may have been evil. That turtle tried to kill me.

 The rest of the cruise was much the same. We actually visited a second snorkeling spot, where we proceeded to torture a journalist in the water by throwing fish food right by her so that the fish would swarm. I thought that was sort of mean, but she's not mad. Finally, we all cracked some beers and ate some sandwiches and catamaran'ed back to the dock.

And the sunset was gorgeous.

After that, there was a short break and then we had sushi at the hotel with the distillery owner. That's it for today. 

Some things I learned: 
1. The ocean in Barbados really might kill you if you go in on the northern east coast, as it's really dangerous water. 
2. A corn n' oil contains neither corn, nor oil, but it will have you feeling no pain. 
3. The next Jersey Shore is going to be in Miami. 
4. All rum is not made equal -- yes, I knew that, but now I understand it quite a bit better. 
5. Jeff, one of our boat guides, likes women in red stilettos and chokers with spikes. 
6. Some people think cliff diving is normal.
7. Macaroni Pie and Barbados Cobbler sound like midwestern food, but are not. In fact, one is a drink.
8. Mauby is a fruit juice that cools you down, even without ice.


I'll be here until Saturday, more recaps to come!